Holy Institution Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Treatment towards new students (4)

The raging flames shone against his handsome and cold face, his thin lips tightly pursed. He walked in Di Lin's direction step by step.

Their surroundings were extremely quiet.

Though the civilian students didn't recognize him, his show of extravagance was more than enough to make clear his status as n.o.bility.

Suo Suo watched him approach bit by bit and couldn't stop himself from shrinking behind Di Lin. Yet, his large round eyes peered out in curiosity.

Ning Ya stealthily withdrew half a step, accidentally widening the distance between him and Di Lin.

Xi Luo finally reached Di Lin. His slim chin was raised slightly. "Di Lin·Basco."

Di Lin's right hand lightly pressed against his left chest and he bowed thirty-degrees. "Your Highness Xi Luo."

The two names aroused a large wave of whispers.

The entire continent knew that the two strongest countries in the continent, Kanding Empire and Shamanril, were old enemies. This was especially the case during the past fifteen years - whether it was in public or in secret, the various disputes between them had never ceased. Although they had yet to reach the point of invasion into the other's territory, neither side had ever been stingy with the military accomplishments left behind on the other country's soil.

Xi Luo looked faintly at the top of Di Lin's orange-haired head. "In the Nanyon military campaign fifteen years ago, your father, Andre·Basco, used fifty-thousand troops to defeat my Kanding Empire's eighty-thousand troops."

Di Lin raised his head slowly, his greenish-blue pupils gazing at him serenely. He was neither arrogant nor alarmed.

Xi Luo stated, "I am not singing praises of your father's achievements."

Di Lin replied, "Kanding Empire's prince would not do so."

"Correct," Xi Luo pointed a finger at the tip of his nose. "That will never happen."

Di Lin fixed his gaze on the finger that was almost within reach and spoke in a manner that was neither servile nor overbearing. "May I regard this as a sign for a challenge?"

The corner of Xi Luo's mouth curved, and he retrieved his finger. "Sure. But not now. I only ever kill mature pigs."

Di Lin said, "Such as those with ages comparable to the prince's?"

Xi Luo's smile vanished, the look in his eyes as frigid as ice.

Di Lin met his gaze calmly.

Suo Suo s.h.i.+fted to the side uneasily. However, he very quickly realized that doing so displayed his arrogance and thus once again quietly s.h.i.+fted back.

"Suo Suo·Vantras?" It was unknown when Xi Luo's gaze s.h.i.+fted over to him.

Suo Suo swallowed nervously and nodded lightly.

Xi Luo commented, "I heard the King of Julan intends to let you inherit the position of king. Hopefully, that will not be too erroneous a decision."

Di Lin counterattacked, "To Kanding Empire, it is a mistake. But to Julan and Shamanril, it is enormously good news."

Xi Luo raised a palm, a lick of fire burning within. "I sincerely hope that your strength will amount to half of your eloquence."

Di Lin made a polite gesture. "I am very much willing to realize your expectations."

Xi Luo withdrew his hand. His gaze swept across Ning Ya, yet he didn't pause but instead walked towards the area he had previous landed at.

The four accompanying mages had already helped him to pitch the tent. After Xi Luo entered the tent, they picked up the bamboo poles and chair before once again flying off.

Only at this moment did Suo Suo dare to breathe deeply. "Is he also staying here?"

Di Lin was also very puzzled. The reason why Princess Qiaoni had been suspended from school and made to self-reflect at home was because she had fought too violently with Xi Luo in the school compound, bringing about negative influences and startling the school president Orosai. But now it seemed that only Qiao Ni had been punished?

At the side, Ning Ya spoke softly. "Only the junior or new students live outside."

"Junior?" Suo Suo said in surprise. "But he doesn't look young at all!"

Ning Ya spoke. "The school doesn't set an age limit for entry into the school. Moreover, His Highness Xi Luo is only nineteen years old."

Suo Suo replied. "So that's why. He's older than me by four years. Oh right, didn't he enter the school three years ago? Why is he still in the junior grade?"

Di Lin suddenly spoke. "He's repeating a year?" This would explain his appearance here - because he changed the school's method of punishment.

Ning Ya shook his head lightly. "That may not be the case."

Di Lin waited for his conjecture, but he didn't continue. Instead, he approached the tents. "It's very late. It'll be better for us to rest early."

Since he wasn't willing to speak, Di Lin would naturally not insist on it. They bid each other good night and Di Lin dragged Suo Suo into the tent.

Likely because Suo Suo had slept too much during the day, he wasn't at all sleepy. He tossed and turned without falling asleep.

Di Lin had always been a light sleeper, so he had no choice but to accompany him in suffering from insomnia.

The two people only fell asleep after messing around for half the night.

The next morning, Di Lin was sleeping soundly when he heard someone continuously calling his name. He woke with a start, only to realize that it was Suo Suo talking in his sleep. He hugged his blanket wordlessly and sat there in a daze for a while before helping to tug the blanket properly over Suo Suo. Then, he left the tent in search of a place to wash up.

When he returned from was.h.i.+ng up, Ning Ya was standing outside his tent and suspiciously watching Macreis lead another group of magic tutors in marking the tents.

Di Lin walked over and explained. "They're choosing the students."

"Is there a particular criterion?" Ning Ya asked curiously.

Di Lin shrugged. "Maybe odd and even numbers?"

If they were standing in the middle of that group of magic tutors at that point in time, they would hear them frequently muttering to themselves -

"This tent was pitched very st.u.r.dily. Has strength, not bad."

"Ah, this pole is about to break. The person living inside must be an idiot. Pa.s.s, pa.s.s."

"Heavens, his leg is actually outside the tent… So many leg hairs – they can be used to light fires, not bad."

"……"

The magic tutors very quickly picked their students according to their individual preferences while the rest were once again pushed to the tutors who didn't recruit enough students by Macreis.

Watching the students being called out of their tents one by one and leaving with their respective tutors, Ning Ya said with doubt, "What about us?"

Di Lin replied. "We're an exception." His gaze landed on Xi Luo's tent. If the Holy Inst.i.tution's system was for every tutor to guide their own students, then the Xi Luo who had entered the school three years ago should have his own tutor. So, regardless of the fact that they were all junior students, it was very likely that they would not attend cla.s.ses together?

To be honest, he was inwardly not willing to engage in too many disputes with Xi Luo.

He came to Saint Padeus' Inst.i.tution so that he could avoid all those annoying disputes. But yesterday night, he very gloomily realized that he had not actually managed to escape them but instead entered a place with the most intense disputes.

Although the influence of the various countries in the continent were unable to infiltrate Saint Padeus' Inst.i.tution, they could spread to the students within the school. This was already enough to set off waves. Xi Luo and Qiao Ni's joining of hands had already proven this point.

Ning Ya appeared to have a certain degree of comprehension of this.

Not long after the new students who arrived on the second day left, the new students who had arrived on the first day were once again taken away by their tutors. Suddenly, only Di Lin, Suo Suo, Ning Ya, and Xi Luo, who had never left his tent even once, were left in the huge s.p.a.ce.

"I'm hungry," Suo Suo's head stretched out from the tent.

Di Lin once again took out the booklet and resolved to complete the exploration that he hadn't managed to finish the previous day.

Ning Ya also joined the group.

The three people packed up their things and commenced their journey.

During situations where errors in direction occurred, Ning Ya promptly made the corrections. In such a way, Di Lin and the rest smoothly found the dining hall - an imposing, majestic castle.

The doors that were as tall as two stories were wide open. The vague aroma of food wafted faintly through the air.

Suo Suo was moved and rushed in. "Ah, this is a room!"

Di Lin followed behind him. He teased, "Is Julan a nomadic clan?"

Suo Suo complained. "After living in the tent for two days, I'm quickly forgetting what the Julan imperial palace looks like."

Beyond the doors were closely packed long tables. It was possible to imagine the spectacular sight when everyone filled the seats.

At the end of the tables and chairs was a horizontal stone counter that linked the pillars in the room. Standing behind the stone counter was a giant above two meters tall. His thick beard covered half of his face and the smell of food constantly emitted from the row of wooden buckets behind him.

Suo Suo swallowed his saliva and walked to the front of the counter. "Is this place for eating?"

The giant blinked. "Yes."

"Ah, I want two portions of steak!" Suo Suo extended two fingers.

Th giant picked up a large wooden ladle that completely matched his build and pointed to the clock on the wall. "There are still two hours before it is time to eat."

Suo Suo's face drooped. "But I'm hungry."

The giant raised a brow. "Why don't you eat the bread in your s.p.a.ce bag?"

Suo Suo stared at him in shock. "How did you know I have bread in my s.p.a.ce bag?"

The giant slowly bent his waist and touched his two ma.s.sive nostrils. "The smell of the bread told me so."

Di Lin was inwardly apprehensive.

From a certain point of view, s.p.a.ce bags were completely sealed, and it was impossible for smells to be emitted. However, from the giant's appearance, it didn't seem like he was deceiving them.

He finally knew why Saint Padeus' Inst.i.tution had always been far ahead of the rest of the schools.

— This was a place where even a chef had hidden talents and skills.

They picked a remote spot in the dining hall and sat down.

Di Lin read while Ning Ya and Suo Suo chatted cheerily about each other's countries.

Time pa.s.sed by very quickly. In the blink of an eye, two hours had almost gone by. Suddenly, a string of heavy footsteps sounded from outside.

Di Lin and the rest watched stupefied as the new students who had left valiantly and spiritedly that morning rushed in one by one like drowned rats. The tutors behind them were shouting loudly.

Only after a long period of chaos did they finally sit down at their respective places.

The giant stood behind the stone counter and waved his large ladle.

Countless plates flew up into the air before orderly landing in front of every person.

After that was the food and cutlery.

Suo Suo's eyes widened. He picked up the knife and fork and inserted it into the steak on his plate, exclaiming in astonishment. "Heavens! This is magic?"

Di Lin let out a breath, putting his book back into his s.p.a.ce bag. "Looks like I need to get rid of my habit of making a fuss out of nothing during our future days here."

After finis.h.i.+ng their lunch, the new students were once again made to leave by their yelling teachers.

Di Lin and the rest calmly watched the plates and cutlery that automatically flew back to the stone counter. Then, they continued the things they had been doing before they were interrupted.

Anyway, there wasn't anything to do even if they went back. Why not eat dinner before leaving to save on walking that long route back and forth?

Of course, the biggest reason for this was -

Saint Padeus' Inst.i.tution's meals were really not bad.

After finis.h.i.+ng their meal, they faced the cool breeze in the forest with a satisfied heart and returned to the empty land with carefree steps. The third batch of new students had already arrived.

Di Lin subconsciously searched for Xi Luo's silhouette.

As expected, he had emerged from his tent and was currently engaged in conversation with a brown-haired shortie. No, it should be said that the brown-haired shortie was doing his utmost to speak to him. From start to end, Xi Luo had always had on an indifferent look.

Suo Suo's gaze swept over the group of people who were busy pitching their tents. "So many people. Who will be our cla.s.smates?"

Ning Ya said in a low voice, "The person beside His Highness Xi Luo is one."

Di Lin's ears p.r.i.c.ked up.

"He's the nephew of Biaque's empress, Aridi·Popov."

Suo Suo's mood fell. Biaque and Kanding Empire's relations.h.i.+p was identical to Julan and Shamanril. This meant that Biaque's relations.h.i.+p with Shamanril and Julan was also extremely tense.

Di Lin calculated. "There are a total of ten spots; three spots left."

Ning Ya said, "Maybe it's two."

Di Lin looked towards him.

It was likely that Ning Ya felt embarra.s.sed at being stared at and had no option but to continue the words he had left unfinished the previous day. "The Holy Inst.i.tution has a system of rules that are as harsh as the law. Under normal circ.u.mstances, students' punishments would not be easily changed."

Di Lin had an epiphany. "You mean to say that the reason why Xi Luo appeared here is because he's occupying the spot given to Kanding Empire this year?" It was no wonder that the person standing beside Xi Luo was Aridi, who came from Biaque, instead of someone from Kanding Empire.

Ning Ya said shyly, "This is just my conjecture."

Di Lin viewed him in a new light. It seemed that his inner world was not as ordinary as his external appearance.

As for who exactly their cla.s.smates were, it became abundantly clear on the morning of the fourth day of Di Lin's arrival at the Holy Inst.i.tution -

All they had to do was look at the remaining people in dismay.

After they introduced themselves, Rui Meng·Cher, who hailed from Senriga, said what everyone present was thinking inwardly.

"d.a.m.n it! Where is our tutor?"

The author has something to say: The map has been drawn - it's in the summary below, hehe.

The following is a brief introduction of Di Lin and his cla.s.smates:

There are three factions - Kanding faction, Shaman faction, and the Neutral faction.

Firstly, the Shaman faction:

[Shamanril] Di Lin (The son of the dukedom that has authority over the army)

[Julan] Suo Suo (Prince)

The above two are cousins.

Next, the Kanding faction:

[Kanding Empire] Xi Luo (Prince, moreover he's the type who's very ambitious)

[Biaque] Aridi (Alibaba, Aridi - you guys understand)

The ones below have less presence - the Neutral faction:

[Langzan] Ning Ya (Can entirely be remembered as a Chinese name. And after those slender waist moments, he should be someone who has presence)

[Senriga] Rui Meng (The guy who seized the chance to make an appearance at the end of the chapter)

[Santu] Jeffery (Just looking at the map is enough to know how miserable this Santu country's position is. The even more miserable thing is that cla.s.smate Jeffery clearly already appeared in this chapter, but didn't have a chance to be mentioned ╮(╯_╰)╭ Sigh.)